B3 Nationals

[Klundell]

Just when I thought I was getting good I looked at the B3 nationals scores. Wow these kids are smokin'! 38 was ran by 4 different skiers and a 14 year old ran 4.5@38. Insane skiing! The future is bright in this sport.

[webbdawg99]

My thoughts exactly. I was surprised someone hadn't commented on this earlier. The B3 division is KILLING it. Quite humbling!

[Than_Bogan]

I think slalom technique has improved a lot in recent years, in part to match the also-improved equipment. So one part of this is that these kids are learning things the right way from the beginning, as opposed to the very-old-school muscling it and fighting it technique.

 

But there's no doubt there's a bit of a youth resurgence right now. From my club, we sent 4 kids and 0 adults to Nationals this year. (That's partly a coincidence, but we only had 2 adults qualified. One is hurt and the other [aka me] is too lazy to go this year!)

[cwillygood]

Boys 3 was awesome this year! Jamie Marsh from MA ran 35 for the first time getting 2 at 38! Wyatt got 2nd with 3.5 at 39 which is awesome! Dane also ran 38! I got a tournament best at 3 @ 35! Some serious competition this year, not to mention the longest b3 jump was 175

[Than_Bogan]

@cwillygood Wow those are some awesome E region results! And huge congrats to you and "the other Jamie" for tournament PBs in the freakin' Nationals!

[cwillygood]

thank you! its a big improvement sense i missed my opening gates at nationals last year

[Than_Bogan]

I've done a couple of M.O.P.s at Nationals, too. That's not fun.

 

One of 'em was sorta the airline's fault. I learned to remeasure fin and wing after a plane ride...

 

My other m.o.p. at Nationals is best summarized by the immortal words of current U.S. Olympic Rowing Coach Mike Teti:

 

It's so simple. You guys are just not good.

 

This was said to a Princeton crew back when Teti was the heavyweight coach at Princeton. My brother was on that crew. Although Teti apparently is kinda the ass that you might guess from that quote, my brother always regarded him an excellent coach.

[Razorskier1]

I'm amazed at how good the boys and girls are in our sport. Versus us old guys I do think they benefit from (a) learning right from the beginning, (b) having consistent speed control systems for most of their careers, and © they are just plain great athletes! I've spent entirely all my years in the slalom course unlearning how I learned to ski!

[Chef23]

@Razorskier1 I think it is all of the above plus the equipment is much better than it was 30 plus years ago when I was a kid.

[ski4xtc]

@klundell - I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday. That was Taylor Garcia who ran 4.5 @ -38 at age 14. I hear he is running -38 in practice. Not only can he slalom but he is even a better jumper and he can trick too. Incredible to say the least. One great group of skiers. Probably a few future pro's in the group.

[gjohnson]

In 1992 a 14 year old Jamie Beauchesne took 3rd in B3 skiing 3-35. Only the winner ran -35 that year. That's solid skiing. That score would put him in a tie for 14th out of 42 in this years group of B3 skiers.

[Zman]

Not too shabby for the G3 results either - a 16 year old ran 2@38! Kara MacIntyre.

[MattP]

@Zman yeah Kara has been skiing great this year.

[Chef23]

Nick Lang who is also 14 ran 3@38 finished third in tricks, won jump at 175 feet and won overall. That is crazy stuff given that both Lang and Garcia are in their first year in Boys 3.

[Zman]

@MattP - I see are in GA. I may be moving there soon, South GA near Valdosta. OB has helped me some in locating a place to ski. Maybe see you on the water sometime next spring.

[MattP]

@Zman yeah OB is a good guy. See you around!

[Than_Bogan]

@MattP No, no OB is no good. You should Dislike all of his posts. A few thousand Dislikes and maybe I can pass him on The Points! :-)

[LeonL]

Speaking of B3 slalom -- a skier from our site (haven't spoken with him or his parents directly, just emails) skied in the middle of the pack. Ran his first 2 passes in a boat that had not been mapped. TWO, count 'em 2!! Then they decided to map the boat. Of that there's no question, as they picked him up and he was in the boat while mapping. He starts at 34 28off, so he ran that and 36 28off, after mapping he opted up, unprotected, to 32 off and ran that. Question is how does that happen at Nationals. First the CD should ensure that all boats are mapped, second the event driver should ensure that it's mapped, third how the he** does a boat judge pull a skier a second pass after the first one yields no times?? As I said, maybe I'll get more info when they return home, but for now, what the hey!! Also, did they insert a different boat in the middle of the pack? That's somewhat understandable, as a crew change may have happened as well.

[Chef23]

Weird things still happen at Nationals. Someone I know got taken out at the wrong line length and they never really explained her options while she was in the water. My son had to stand on the starting dock for 40 minutes while they fixed a broken boat in the middle of the Boys 2 draw. The Boys 2 winner skied through a downpour right before they stopped skiing for over an hour. He still won but skied well below his expectations.

[LeonL]

@Chef23, if they (responsibility of boat judge) didn't "really explain her options" it's a pretty good bet that the boat judge doesn't know the rule book and wasn't capable of explaining her options. Sad, at that level. Both possibilities (longer or shorter than requested) result in the skier having 3 options. I guess that's just one too many for some judges.

[Ilivetoski]

@LeonL there was a crew change right before Ryan skied, same boat however. What I never understood, is why after the 1st run of not getting any times, did they pull him again at 36? Thats what I did not understand about it. Also did you hear about what happend to Austin? He ran his 28 22 then they didnt put it to 30 so he ran 2 28`s and fell at 3 ball at 30.... Very sad cosnidering the chance he had at winning this year.

[LeonL]

@llivetoski, OK now I have a handle on what happened. When running on a lake that is close and parallel to another and the boat is mapped for both, ZO must have the specific lake manually selected or funny things happen. The first boat crew knew this. When the boat was shut down and restarted this would have had to be done again. Other Ballers - correct me if I'm wrong on this. As to pulling him at 36 after getting no times at 34 is just wrong. Getting no time is the same as a slow time requiring a mandatory reride, unless of course Ryan opted up. But an intelligent boat crew should have known that if you got no times one pass it wasn't going to fix itself for the next one. About Austin, yeah that's bad. As I stated earlier, things like these just shouldn't happen at Nationals, where supposedly you have elite officials. Ryan's problem is kinda technical and some drivers may have never seen this before, by in Austin's situation it's just a case of not being in the game, not being on the ball, bullshi**ing in the boat and/or just not giving the attention that a skier deserves.

[Ilivetoski]

@LeonL and yes, Ryan did decide to go to 32, I believe he had 3 choices, 1) restart the entire round (start at 34 28), go to 36,28 or straight to 36, 32. He decided 32. Ryans dad, myself, and Eric were talking about why he would do that. We all agreed it was a pretty stupid thing to do (Ryan has that tendency), but amazingly he pulled it out.

[cwillygood]

i was on the dock getting ready when he decided to do that, it was wild, haha, ballsy move for sure

[PatM]

Zman, speaking of G3, Samantha Dumala (14 years old) got 5th in a run off with a score of 4 @38 off. She beat Taylor Woosley who had a score of 3@38off. Now that is some skiing.

[Than_Bogan]

Well Pat, looks we have to get used to being beaten by girls more regularly now...

[klindy]

@Ilivetoski Ryan had two options he could rerun the second pass with the "no time" result or he could opt up. He could not restart the set.

 

@Pat M I agree the run off in G3 was the best "untold" story of the tournament. Both scores for Taylor and Samantha were better than the 1st place score of the event. Both ran 32 and 35 off the dock to get to see 38 and, I'm told, it was a pb for both of them. Samantha even commented before going out that she didn't think she could beat Taylor since it was a buoy better than her previous best. Needless to say there was lots of high fives and cheering on the dock after the event. Very exciting.

[Kelvin]

@klindy Samantha's score even tied the G3 national record - it was a treat to watch.

[klindy]

@Kelvin you're right! I had forgot that!!

[Ilivetoski]

@klindy No, I am talking to Ryan right now. He said he could 1)rerun the set, 2) 36, 28 3) 36, 32. He just told me that 30 seconds ago.

[Ilivetoski]

@klindy he could reset because he had no times on the first OR second pass. If they had times on the first you would be right, but niether pass gave times. Therefore both passes would be viewed as "out of spec" because niether pass was "in spec" he had the right to rerun his 1st pass.

[klindy]

@Ilivetiski not exactly... you get the chance to start over only after a 10 minute delay (weather or tournament supplied equipment). Or you can have an unscored practice run in the opposite direction (any speed/rope length) before you continue in the next logical speed/rope length. In the second case te score is protected.

 

A missed time is treated as a slow time and the skier is given the option to continue at risk (which he did). If a skier continues there has not been a reride, merely the option of one. If a skier gets two rerides (actually rerides the pass), he is offered a 5 minute rest where he would go back to the dock an go again after the next skier continuing where he left off.

 

In Ryan's case the same boat was used for G3 just prior to his event. The boat called in the missed time (first pass) and was asked to confirm ZO was pointing to the right lake and showed an asterisk on the screen (confirmed by the driver). After the second pass it was determined ZO somehow lost the mapping. The driver is quite capable, the previous event drive was on the dock and part of the discussion along with a third experience driver. The delay was approximately 5 min 45 seconds beyond the 45 second set down time until he was on the platform getting back in the water.

 

The boat judge offered him a reride after each pass which he opted to proceed at risk. When it was decided to remap we didn't want Ryan to sit in the water for safety and other concerns. He was asked to get into the boat where he could have been dropped at the dock or just ride along. As said he opted to proceed at risk and was able to complete the pass with a good time.

 

It was an unfortunate issue which was handled as best as possible. That said it would be preferable that it didnt occur at all.

[thager]

ZO does occasionally do some odd stuff. About once a summer mine will show no gps. Screen locks. If you menu you end up in stuff I don't recognize and can't get out of even with the cheatsheet in front of me. Only fix is to disconnect battery positive terminal and reconnect. Comes back up and operates normal.

[sunvalleylaw]

@cwillygood! Congrats!! Keep it up! and the mountainbiking and other fun stuff you do too! Glad to hear of your and the other young folks successes!

 

BTW, I liked your vid too in the contest thread.

 

I am sorry to hear of the other athlete's technical problem. Stuff should not happen, but it sometimes does anyway.

[Than_Bogan]

Software sucks. Believe me: I write the stuff for a living.

[cwillygood]

@sunvalleylaw

 

thanks! i try to work hard in skiing with training and stuff but it makes everything more enjoyable when you can just go have some fun biking or goofing around

[sunvalleylaw]

@cwillygood, always remember to have fun. That is why I formed that kids freeride snowskiing and boarding team. All about fun. Waterskiiing can be focused on the course and results, but there also must be time for goofing off and fun. Some freeskiing where you just enjoy the skills you have mastered and what you can do with them and how it feels just to be able to rip is a must!

[cwillygood]

thats why i love to snow ski! i tried racing but hated it, the summer and waterskiing can be training, focus, practice and competition but snow skiing is just so free and you can flip spin slide whatever you want, i think thats why i love both waterski and snowski because there two total different aspects of my general picture of "skiing"

[Ilivetoski]

@klindy He had the option to do the entire set. I know that for a fact.

[klindy]

@Ilivetoski I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. The rule is if you have two rerides you can request a 5 minutes rest. The only time you can start over is if there is a 10 minute delay (or you can ask for a warm up pass). Since I wasn't in the boat I can't know exactly what the told him. All that said, he did make a decision that was within the rules (continue at risk) and he was able to complete the next pass with a good time.

[ForrestGump]

@ilivetoski klindy knows what he's talking about here. He's a 3 event Sr PanAm judge and was an asst chief judge at Nationals this year.

[LeonL]

@llivetoski As stated accurately by @klindy above, the rule is clear on this, however what options the boat judge offered him (correctly or otherwise) we don't know. If in fact, he was offered the option to restart the whole set it was done in error. I have no doubt that Ryan understood that the judge made that option available, but sometimes there is, in the immortal words of Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke, "a failure to communicate."

[klindy]

@Ilivetoski @SHill @LeonL - the only other (maybe best) option would have been to poll the event judges to determine if he was adversely effected by the malfunction. As Shane mentioned I was ACJ this year and in fact was on the dock for B3 at the time Ryan skied. Given the chance to repeat the scenario, I'd likely poll the event judges and go from there. But we did discuss ZO as discussed as the problem occured between each pass to find a cure and I did have a stopwatch on the time it took to remap.

[Chef23]

@klindy I am sure you are right. I also think it was possible that the skier in the water was given incorrect options.